My Crown Felt Too High, So My Dentist Filed Down the Tooth Above It. Is This the Correct Procedure?
Q.
I recently had a new crown fitted and immediately felt it was too high. It is also much deeper (front to back) than my other teeth. My dentist asked “does it feel too high?” and when I answered yes, she checked it by asking me to bite down and move my teeth from side to side on a strip of paper, said “I’ll adjust it”, and then proceeded to file down the tooth immediately above it – without informing me first. The filed tooth is root-filled and is mainly filling anyway so it didn’t hurt, but is this normal procedure if a crown is too high? It seems all wrong to me and the filed tooth is now shorter than the corresponding one on the other side. Surely any filing should have been done to the crown?
I recently had a new crown fitted and immediately felt it was too high. It is also much deeper (front to back) than my other teeth. My dentist asked “does it feel too high?” and when I answered yes, she checked it by asking me to bite down and move my teeth from side to side on a strip of paper, said “I’ll adjust it”, and then proceeded to file down the tooth immediately above it – without informing me first. The filed tooth is root-filled and is mainly filling anyway so it didn’t hurt, but is this normal procedure if a crown is too high? It seems all wrong to me and the filed tooth is now shorter than the corresponding one on the other side. Surely any filing should have been done to the crown?
A.
This is definitely one option to be considered, but only minor adjustment would be advised. If the crown is adjusted it can end up too thin sometimes. The tooth underneath the crown may have been under-prepared and this could explain why it ended up high as the dental technician who made the crown might have had limited space to work with – a porcelain crown needs sufficient thickness to ensure it doesn’t prematurely fracture. Ask your dentist for their feedback if you are still concerned and also as if the tooth with the root canal needs a crown or inlay as well. Regards, Mark,
This is definitely one option to be considered, but only minor adjustment would be advised. If the crown is adjusted it can end up too thin sometimes. The tooth underneath the crown may have been under-prepared and this could explain why it ended up high as the dental technician who made the crown might have had limited space to work with – a porcelain crown needs sufficient thickness to ensure it doesn’t prematurely fracture. Ask your dentist for their feedback if you are still concerned and also as if the tooth with the root canal needs a crown or inlay as well. Regards, Mark,
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